The pretty terrific grand strategy game is typically $40 and was only available at the deeply discounted rate for 24 hours, so there’s a good chance you missed it. Well, don’t miss it again. The Humble Store brought back its Winter Sale best sellers for two more days of wheeling and dealing.

I’m actually getting to this post a tad late. The Humble Store says that only select games will be on sale through January 3, and the deal on Europa Universalis IV expires at 2 p.m. Eastern today, so hurry up and grab EU4 and consider these other awesome deals on great games:

And don’t forget, The Humble Store sends 10% of all proceeds to charity (the online shop has raised more than $375,000 since it opened in November), so you’re getting great games cheap and doing your first good deed of 2014. Nice work.

War of the Roses‘ pitch was amazing: a Dark Ages melee multiplayer spin on Battlefield. Unfortunately, the project never had the budget required to achieve developer Fatshark’s vision, and we only really saw its true potential after numerous patches and content updates were released — well after launch and when interest in War of the Roses had already faded (with a little help from competitor Chivalry: Medieval Warfare).

Well, if at first you don’t succeed… transform your knights in shining armor into vikings with battle axes. That’s the basic blueprint Fatshark is following with its War of the Roses follow-up, War of the Vikings, and we’ll all get to find out how it plays, for free, this weekend.

Our own CJ Miozzi recently had the chance to go hands on with War of the Vikings at a preview event, and after learning the melee ropes, he had a ball. I’m looking forward to seeing how Fatshark has improved its War of the Roses formula myself. See you in Valhalla.

It didn’t take long playing Crusader Kings II for me to know that it would be among my favorite games of the year (see review). What I didn’t know was how much the game would improve with the passage of time, thanks to patches, awesome Game of Thrones mods, and now the Sword of Islam expansion, which launches today for $9.99 from Steam, GamersGate, Gamefly, or GameStop.

As its title implies, Sword of Islam allows players to take control of Muslim rulers, who will battle invading crusaders and expand Islam’s holdings in the Near East, North Africa, and beyond. Cultural contrasts are supported with brand-new mechanics that turn polygamy, “decadence” and complex succession practices into engrossing gameplay. A redesigned UI and a variety of tweaks and fixes make the expansion a tempting prospect at a reasonable price. What are you waiting for? Death to the infidel!

]]>http://www.gamefront.com/crusader-kings-ii-sword-of-islam-expansion-released-today/feed/0Play This Now! A Game of Thrones Mod for Crusader Kings IIhttp://www.gamefront.com/play-this-now-a-game-of-thrones-mod-for-crusader-kings-ii/
http://www.gamefront.com/play-this-now-a-game-of-thrones-mod-for-crusader-kings-ii/#commentsThu, 31 May 2012 11:35:16 +0000Ben Richardsonhttp://www.gamefront.com/?p=169525Power is a trick, a shadow on the wall.

From the moment I started playing Crusader Kings II for my review, I knew it would be perfect for a Game of Thrones mod. George R.R. Martin’s epic fantasy is steeped in real history, and concerns itself as much with feudal politics, negotiation, and skulduggery as it does with dragons and swords. Gameplay in Crusader Kings II, built around genetics, marriage alliances, and succession law, provides a natural fit.

It was no surprise, then, when a group of modders began work on a Game of Thrones total conversion shortly after release. The only surprise was how quickly they had it ready to play! The amount of effort and the attention to detail is staggering: the volunteer team designed heraldry, invented names for locations not mentioned in Martin’s books, and created brand-new gameplay features to fit the world of A Song of Ice and Fire.

I’ve got about eight hours of play under my belt so far, and have loved every minute. Games begin in the midst of an insurrection — Robert’s Rebellion, the only scenario available so far — and all of Westeros is crawling with armies. Exploring the map is a pleasure in itself, as is taking stock of the character traits assigned to various recognizable figures from the books. Ned Stark with the double-edged sword of “Trusting” character trait — +1 to Diplomacy, -2 to Intrigue — what could be more fitting? Franchise obsessives like myself will also geek out over the alternate “realities” the game’s randomized nature creates. Cersei Lannister always seems to marry Hoster Tully early on, for instance.

Over the course of two campaigns, I immersed myself in the struggle for the Iron Throne. Mod-specific gameplay features like Maesters from the Citadel, prisoners demanding “trial by combat,” and unpredictable seasons (Winter Is Coming!) only scratch the surface of what the mod team eventually plans to include. Some systems are still wonky; the mod is technically still in beta.

Playing as Littlefinger, confined to a tiny, remote fiefdom, provided a harsh lesson in the balance of power. I do eventually plan on achieving greatness with the Baelish dynasty. Howland Reed provided a more stable powerbase, but the hyper-local “Crannogman” culture was a constant source of debuffs and headache.

Crusader Kings II players unfamiliar with the series might prefer to wait for the release of “Sword of Islam,” an expansion that makes Muslim rulers playable for the first time. If you’re a fan of strategy video games and A Song of Ice and Fire, however, playing this mod is a must. Hit the link below to download.

Crusader Kings II is a glorious game, suffusing historical strategy with exhaustive detail without ever burying the fun (see the Game Front review). Today, Paradox Interactive released a new patch for the game, which, in addition to correcting bugs, offers these enticing, useful features:

CRUSADES
• New Crusade System – The Pope declares the war and other rulers can join the attacking alliance with the ruler contributing the most gaining the targeted kingdom.
• Coalition Armies – Armies can now be ‘attached’ to each other after which they will follow the lead army.

EVENTS & PLOTS
• Two New Plots – Plot to revoke your vassal’s title, plot to cut a more powerful fellow vassal down to size.
• More than 100 new events (Friendship & Rivalries, Regencies and others).

GAMEPLAY & FLAVOR
• New diplomatic options – offer to Join War, Matrilineal Betrothal).
• Causes of Death – See what characters have died of to determine whether they were murdered or not.
• War Contribution Score – Participants in wars now get a contribution score which determines how much prestige and piety they get when the war ends.
• Culture uncoupled from ethnicity.

New random events are particularly welcome (you can never have too many!), and I look forwarding to putting some over-ambitious vassals in their place. Full patch notes are available on the official forums at this location; hit the button below to download Patch 1.05.

1066. A date particular to the memory of British schoolchildren. At the head of a large force of Norman soldiers, Duke William the Conqueror disembarks on England’s southern shore. Marching his armies towards the capital, he seeks decisive battle with Harold II, the Saxon King.

Harold’s levies stay in their castles, bogging the invaders down in a series of sieges. He then convinces the Holy Roman Empire to intervene on his behalf. The Emperor arrives with a huge army, overwhelming the Normans through sheer weight of numbers. In a battle outside London, William receives a crushing blow to the head, rendering him comatose and incapable of ruling. The Norman Conquest fails. Hard.

If that doesn’t sound like history to you, that’s because it isn’t – the events described above took place during a game of Crusader Kings II (“CKII”) I live-tweeted for GameFront. As the game wore on, the Duchy of Normandy would continue to crumble, beset by rebellious vassals outraged by the homosexual behavior of William’s son and grandson (seriously).

Crusader Kings II can conjure up all manner of historical “what-if” scenarios, but it’s more than that. Thanks to flexible, detailed, randomized design, the game creates entertaining, procedurally generated stories. It may not have the lush graphics and careful scripting that define modern narrative games, but the drama is all there, if you use your imagination.

At its core, CKII is about characters. Each game contains thousands, living, dying, marrying and fighting, all under the control of the masterfully programmed A.I. Though they’re defined initially only by statistics, traits (e.g. slothful, craven, just), and a small portrait, you’ll get to know these people intimately as the game goes on. As years pass and kingdoms rise and fall, their portraits will age and change. You will learn to hate the sight of your ungrateful son’s double chin, when his rebel armies win yet another victory.

Each one has an ambition, driving him to “get married” or “become a duke.” More importantly, each character has a complex and statistics-driven opinion of every other character in the game. Click on a character, and you’ll see a small number next to the portrait, representing her opinion of you. Numerical credits and debits chronicle religious and political conflicts, personality clashes, and decades-old blood feuds.

By giving gifts or revoking titles, you can drive the numbers up and down, on a scale from 100 to -100. Strange as it is to say, micromanaging the opinions of the people you want to stay friends with occupies the bulk of the gameplay. A feudal lord is only as good as his vassals, and vassals need to be kept happy. Anger the wrong one, and your dynasty might suffer the consequences for generations. An inexhaustible array of random events keeps you guessing, affecting character relations and traits with unmerciful fickleness.

Apart from placating overzealous Prince-Bishops and envious Earls, you’ll also spend a lot of your time arranging marriages. Success in CKII depends on cultivating the long-term success of your dynasty, achieved by marrying your sons to powerful princesses and bethrothing your daughters to lords of the appropriate rank. The game provides a handy character browser, a kind of bride supermarket which filters out heathens, commoners, and the unmarriageably young (<16) at the click of a mouse. A carefully crafted genetics system ensures that parents pass traits down to their children, for better or worse.

]]>http://www.gamefront.com/pirates-of-black-cove-is-now-available-and-heres-a-trailer/feed/0It’s the Pirate’s Life for Everybody in The Pirates of Black Cove (TRAILER)http://www.gamefront.com/its-the-pirates-life-for-everybody-in-the-pirates-of-black-cove-trailer/
http://www.gamefront.com/its-the-pirates-life-for-everybody-in-the-pirates-of-black-cove-trailer/#commentsWed, 13 Jul 2011 18:27:51 +0000Phil Hornshawhttp://www.gamefront.com/?p=110070Yaar, and so forth.

We’ve got a new trailer for The Pirates of Black Cove, a PC strategy title, fresh from Paradox Interactive. It hints at quite a bit of ship-to-ship warfare, which is always fun. Did you know pirates wore eye patches so they could maintain night vision for when they had to go belowdecks? I learned that from “Mythbusters.”

Anyway, I dunno what to tell you about pirates. Just watch this video.